Dr Jeremiah Cohen is using innovative techniques to explore the role that brain chemical serotonin plays in affecting mood.
Serotonin is widely associated with changes in mood and many antidepressants work by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain.
But our understanding of how the chemical is involved in conditions like depression and anxiety at a cellular level remains limited.
So our researchers are using cutting-edge techniques to investigate the precise role of serotonin within the brain.
The team is using techniques from genetics and physiology to study serotonin neurons in mice. Their aim is to create a map of serotonin activity in the brain, which can then be related back to humans.
In particular researchers are looking at:
Until recently, the tools to dissect the behaviour of serotonin neurons in the brain haven’t been available.
That’s no longer the case. So our researchers have an opportunity to create a precise map of how serotonin behaves – and to lay the foundation for more selective use of current antidepressants and for a new generation of better treatments.
Dr Jeremiah Cohen works at the Brain Science Institute and the Solomon H Snyder Department of Neuroscience at The John Hopkins School of Medicine. He focuses on the impact of neural circuits in the brain.
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